Sunday, June 7, 2009

In the early 1960s, North American Aviation (NAA) in Downey, California, sponsored periodic collooquia on lunar and planetary exploration. The thirteenth of these spanned May 6 and 7, 1963. Among its participants was William R. Sims, a U.S. Air Force civil engineer who earned his Master's degree from the Princeton University School of Architecture in June 1963.

In a paper based on his Master's thesis, the young Lieutenant explored the possibilities of lunar architecture. He sought a lunar base design that was "not only functional, but livable and architecturally pleasing and sensible."